Plastics: what breaks down? The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has tasked the Government with clearing up the confusion around environmentally friendly plastics.Plastics: what breaks down?The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has tasked the Government with clearing up the confusion around environmentally friendly plastics.

Biodegradable, degradable, compostable – it’s a minefield when it comes to understanding how long plastics stick around in the environment, so the PCE has created an online resource to help clear things up.

In doing so, Commissioner Simon Upton urged the Government to take the lead in lifting consumer and business understanding about claims of biodegradability of plastics.
The issue was complex because the impact of plastic on the environment depended on what it was made from and how it was disposed, Upton told RNZ’s Nine to Noon.
“One can’t simply toss these products onto the compost heap, or into our recycling bins, and go away thinking ‘job done’.”

Waste Management Institute New Zealand chief executive Paul Evans told the NZ Herald there was “significant confusion” about terminology.
“At the moment there are a plethora of standards and manufacturers are creating their own labels, which only adds to the confusion.”

Z chief executive Mike Bennetts told The Spinoff each company will work to its own reporting standards, but he expected many would do it at least as a voluntary add-on in their annual reports – which are a legal requirement.

Professor James Renwick wrote: “Combined with the recent announcement from the Farming Leaders Group that the agriculture sector is committed to zero carbon emissions by 2050, there’s a real sense that attitudes across the business sector are changing.”

Thai kids face long recovery The prodigious rescue of the 12 Thai football players and their coach may be complete, but their ordeal is far from over.Credit: Nationmultimedia.com

Details have begun to emerge about the physical health of the 12 boys and their coach following their harrowing ordeal in the Tham Luang cave – and so far it appears they have escaped life-threatening injury or infection.

But the mental toll the ordeal has had may last the rest of their lives, psychologists have said. Wellington psychologist Karen Nimmo said the boys were likely to grapple with varying degrees of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as they reintegrate into their homes and families.